Valley Yarns Hosta Leaf Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Hosta Leaf Cardigan

What Is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Hosta Leaf Cardigan is a knitted cardigan designed by Cheryl Burke, featuring decorative leaf motifs inspired by hosta plants. This garment is constructed using a bottom-up construction method, meaning the body and sleeves are knitted starting from the lower edges and working upward toward the yoke. The cardigan is available in six different sizes, accommodating a range of fit preferences.

Construction Techniques

This cardigan employs several advanced knitting techniques that contribute to its sophisticated design:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The body and sleeves are knitted separately from the bottom upward, allowing for easy length adjustments before assembly.
• Seamless Construction: The garment is designed to minimize seaming, creating a more polished finished product with fewer interruptions in the stitch pattern.
• Worked Flat: The body is worked flat on circular needles, using flat knitting techniques rather than in-the-round, which allows for easier shaping and pattern work across the front and back pieces.
• Cable Details: The cardigan incorporates cable stitches, particularly evident in the hosta leaf motif that gives the design its name and visual interest.
• Waist Shaping: Strategic decreases and increases create a fitted silhouette. Decrease rows are worked at regular intervals to cinch the waist, followed by increase rows to shape the bust area, creating a flattering hourglass figure.
• Sleeve Shaping: Sleeves are knitted in the round using double-pointed needles and feature gradual increases worked at specific intervals to achieve a comfortable, well-proportioned fit.
• Yoke Construction: The yoke is worked using circular needles in decreasing sizes (size 6, 5, and 3), allowing for seamless integration of the body and sleeves with potential for decorative decreases.

Stitches Used

The Hosta Leaf Cardigan utilizes fundamental and intermediate knitting stitches:

• Stockinette Stitch (St st): The primary stitch throughout most of the garment, creating a smooth, classic knit fabric. The body transitions to stockinette stitch after the initial patterned section.
• Cable Stitches: Used to create the distinctive hosta leaf motif, these stitches involve crossing groups of stitches over one another to produce raised, textured patterns.
• Knit and Purl Stitches: The foundational stitches used in combination to create texture and stitch definition, particularly in the ribbed cuff sections of the sleeves.
• Increases (M1, Make One): Used throughout the pattern to add stitches for shaping, particularly during waist and sleeve shaping sections.
• Decreases (K2tog, SSK): Used to reduce stitch counts for fitted shaping, particularly in the waist decrease rows where paired decreases create a symmetrical, decorative effect.
• Slip Stitch (sm, slip marker): Used to mark pattern repeats and shaping points, helping knitters maintain pattern alignment and identify decrease/increase locations.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

The Hosta Leaf Cardigan is designed to be knitted with Valley Yarns Northfield, a premium yarn blend that contributes to the cardigan's luxurious drape and comfort:

• Fiber Content: 70% Merino Wool, 20% Baby Alpaca, and 10% Silk. This blend combines the warmth and elasticity of merino wool with the softness and luster of baby alpaca and silk, creating a garment that is both breathable and sumptuous.
• Weight and Yardage: Each skein contains 50 grams and yields 124 yards, allowing for precise yardage calculations across different sizes.
• Yarn Quantity: The pattern requires 11 to 22 skeins of Valley Yarns Northfield depending on size, with larger sizes requiring more yardage.
• Colorway: The cardigan shown is worked in color 05 Garnet, a rich, deep red tone.
• Needles Required: The pattern calls for size 6, 5, and 3 circular need